


Oh hey an IZ swap au

by LeaderOfDICE



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Computer adopted Zim tak and Gir, Computers name is Haus, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, GIR has a kids crush on Gaz, GIR is 8 and has autism, Gaz is an invader, Gretchen is a SIR unit, Keef is an invader, Membrane is the Tallest, Miyuki is Skoodge and Red's mom, Multi, Red and skoodge are siblings, Skoodge is non binary, Slow Burn, Species Swap, Tags to be added as story continues :), Tak Zim and Gir are siblings, Zim has ADHD, but it's not reciprocated because icky, this is my first IZ au fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:14:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeaderOfDICE/pseuds/LeaderOfDICE
Summary: Zim Faren is a normal Junior in highschool. One day, a kid shows up in his classes, going by 'Dib'.I suck at summaries but like here you go-
Relationships: Dib/Zim (Invader Zim), Minor or Background Relationship(s), ZaDr - Relationship
Comments: 5
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I came up with this at, like, midnight. This au has quickly climbed itself to the top of my favorite Invader Zim AUs, surprisingly enough. I feel like it has so much potential for a good fic and I’ve seen such good fanart for it so! We’re gonna write this now. I suck at good titles, but I think that I’m doing just fine, aha-

The short hi-skooler looked around his classroom, his eyes flicking from his classmates to his teachers every now and then. He didn’t really like any of them, although he was considered fairly popular from the others. He went back to doodling the ideas for different inventions. 

“Alright, class. There’s a new student and I expect you all to listen closely, because he’s joining our dreadful hi-skool homeroom class,” Miss. Bitters shook her head before another boy walked in. 

“Uh, hi there. My name is Dib, I’m new here from another, uh… Country. Yeah, country,” The boy, Dib, seemed uncomfortable talking. Zim narrowed his eyes, taking in the boy’s appearance. He had light brown skin, raven black hair that was combed back, minus one bit of hair that went back like a scythe protruding from his head. His eyes were a deep brown color, glasses covering them. He had on a blue t-shirt with a white ghost on it covered with a jet black jacket, black skinny jeans, and black boots. The last thing Zim noticed was the weird backpack on the kid’s back. It was gray with blue spots on it. It wasn’t even attached to any straps; it was just stuck on the kid’s back.

“Lots of black… Emo…” Zim mumbled to himself under his breath. 

“Mr. Faren, is there something you’d like to say?” The teacher glared at Zim.

“I said, this Dib-stink is wearing a lot of black, he looks freakin’ emo,” Zim glared back. The class laughed. Dib was silently watching as Zim and Miss. Bitters had a glare-off and Zim moved his glare from Miss. Bitters to Dib. He already hated this new kid. 

Miss. Bitters huffed. “Dib, go sit down in the front.” Dib nodded and moved over to his new desk. Zim continued to glare at the other. There was something weird about him, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He huffed and continued doodling. He wanted to make a pet for his little brother, Gir. 

He enjoyed making things for the eight year old, the boy’s reaction was always adorable. The last time Zim made Gir something, he and his twin, Tak, spent almost half a year on making him a loose hoodie with a cute cartoon dog on it for his birthday and the boy burst into tears the moment he saw it and hasn’t taken the hoodie off since. Zim happily informed the boy about all the perks of the hoodie, as well; extra pockets, a hood with black dog ears, soft fabric with fuzz on the inside, and some self defense built in as well, although Zim didn’t tell Gir about that last part.

Currently, he was trying to design a robot dog for Gir, since he couldn’t get one, as Zim and Tak were allergic. The design was fairly simple, just a normal looking dog, although Zim was trying to figure out how to get the robot to actually work. The kid’s birthday was coming up, it’d be the perfect gift. He doodled a bit more and then the bell rang. Zim sighed and stood up, grabbing his bag. His next hour was history. Oh, how he hated history class. They left out so much stuff in their school compressed time and it annoyed Zim to no end. As he walked, he noticed that new kid, Dib, following him. Zim stopped, he kept walking, although he stopped when he got to Zim. 

“Hey, do you know where history is? It’s my second hour,” He asked. 

Zim eyed him suspiciously before answering with a shrug, “Yeah, it’s Zim’s next hour. Just follow me or something, I don’t really care.” he continued walking.

“Thanks,” Dib smiled a bit, “Oh, by the way, I’m not emo, I just wore what I could, uhh, find in my closet today.”   
“Zim really doesn’t care.”

“Well, I was hoping we could maybe be friends?”   
“No.”

“Why not?” 

Zim stopped in front of the door to the history classroom and glared at Dib. “Zim doesn’t  _ do _ friends. Zim stays by himself and ignores stupid people, like you and all the other kids here.” 

Dib blinked for a few seconds, “But don’t humans need friends?” 

“‘Humans’? You’re talking like an alien. Just leave me alone, Dib-alien, and we can go our own ways. See you.” Zim walked into the classroom and sat in the front. Dib walked in and went to the far right front. Zim just glared.

The teacher came in late and started his lesson. They were learning about the second world war, and every now and then, whenever Japan was brought up, Zim could feel everyone’s eyes burning his back. He was very uncomfortable, to say the least. He tried to ignore the staring and went back to making his blueprints. The class finished, but Zim didn’t notice, he was too absorbed into his work. He kept drawing out the design before… 

“Mr. Faren, would you like to show me what you’re working on?” The teacher leaned over. Zim jumped a bit. 

“Just a project for my brother, sir,” Zim looked up, noticing how empty the classroom looked. “Is Zim late for his next class?” 

“Only a bit. I can write you a note.” 

“Yes, please, thank you!” Zim quickly stood up and gathered his things. The teacher wrote a note and handed it to the boy before Zim jetted out of the classroom and got to his second hour, math, late. 

“Zim, welcome to the classroom, finally. Do you have a pass?” The teacher turned to him. 

“Yeah… Here,” Zim was gasping for air as he handed her the pass and went to his usual seat. He decided to actually pay attention this hour and looked around the classroom before he made eye contact with another student.  _ Him _ . Zim felt himself recoil and a feeling of disgust washed over him as Dib looked back at the teacher. 

_ It’s just a coincidence, I’ll only have to see him in my first 2 classes and homeroom. It’s fine, I can get his… His stink away and out of Zim’s hair.  _ Zim smiled at the thought and proceeded to listen. He didn’t like math much, but he was good at the subject, so that helped. Zim felt Dib staring at him. He looked over and the two made eye contact again. Dib quickly turned to look at the teacher. Zim didn’t like Dib at all. He was… Creepy. Very creepy. Zim decided he would try to ignore him to the best of his abilities. For now, he focused and did the assignment the teacher asked him to do. The class went by fairly fast as Zim started to focus, and when the bell went off, he felt himself start to groan as he stood, remembering his next class. It was one of the things that he had to take instead of an elective given to him. His schedule changed when they saw that the robotics class Zim had applied to was full. It was ELA, and Zim hated writing, and reading, it hurt his brain, and he wasn’t good at typing. 

He really wasn’t good at speaking either, his voice always had a bit of some unrecognizable accent that no one, not even Zim, knew where it came from. His first language wasn’t English, either, it was Japanese. He grew up speaking it with his mother and father before being stuck in an orphanage at eight with Gir and Tak, and being adopted by Haus. Haus had taught him all the English he knew, and Zim was fairly fluent now. Gir was three when they were adopted, so he mostly grew up speaking English. Zim always thought that Gir was lucky for that. 

Zim shook his head and finished gathering his things to go to his next class. Dib came up to him and Zim groaned loudly. “What do you WANT, Dib-thing?” 

“I just,” Dib stuttered a bit, in what sounded like some weird language, “Sorry, I’m not the best at English yet. I’m just wondering if you could just… Tell me where my classes are.” Dib handed Zim his schedule and Zim scanned over it. He was tempted to lie just to mess with the other, but decided not to. 

“Alright, you got art next. That’s not too far down the hall, you can go with Zim’s sister, Tak, she has that class too. Then you have robotics… Lucky ass. That classroom is next to the gym. Then there’s fifth hour, which you have drama. Zim has that too, so just follow him at like, 10 feet away so Zim doesn’t have to smell you. Fifth hour is also Lunch. So drama isn’t that long of a class. Sixth hour is… Damn, that sucks. The Dib-thing has a class with Skoodge,” Zim snickered before continuing, “Anyways, you have ELA with Skoodge. Then you have Science, with Zim. Dib-monster has a lot of classes with Zim, so you should get there easily. But if you talk to Zim, he will kill you.” 

“Do you… Refer to yourself in third person-?” Dib asked, with amusement in his voice. Zim smiled, punched Dib in the stomach, and ran to his class. He laughed to himself the whole way. His third and fourth hours went by fast, and he was starting to dread fifth hour as it approached. Usually, he’s ecstatic for it, as it’s one of the only classes that he has with Red and Purple, but today, he knew Dib was gonna be there. He would ruin any chance Zim had of befriending them! When he got there, he saw Dib already there, and it looked like he was… ogling over Red and Purple?

“You’re just- so tall,” Dib laughed. “Sorry, this is weird, isn’t it? Uh, just, where I’m from, height is very important and so I just… I get like this.” 

Red looked awkward, “Yeah, sure, just, uh- Can you go? We’re waiting on the teacher.” 

“Yeah,” Purple pouted, “And Red and I wait together with no one else! Go away!” 

Dib looked a bit hurt and Zim ran over, “Purple! Red! I am so sorry, he’s new here, let me just-” Zim grabbed Dib and moved him over to the other side of the room. “Sorry! Anyways, hiiiii!” 

“Zim, go away.” Red rolled his eyes. 

“Yeah, we don’t want  _ anyone _ here. Leave.” Purple looked at Red and smiled, while Zim looked hurt. The teacher came in and class started. Zim sat next to Purple and Red, who were ignoring him. The lunch bell went off and everyone stood up to get lunch. As Zim walked, Tak came up to him. 

“How’s Gir’s present coming along?” She asked. 

Zim sighed, “It’s… going. Zim still needs to finish the blueprints.” 

“I see… Do you want help with it?” 

“... Yeah, no. This is gonna be from just Zim, this year. Sorry,” Zim shook his head and kept walking. “What are they serving today?” 

“Nothing you can eat,” Tak teased and showed a lunch box. “Lucky for you, I brought lunch for both of us!”

“Oh, I’m not hungry,” Zim shook his hands. “Zim needs to finish the blue prints before class starts back up, and you know that Zim can’t eat half the things here. Zim doesn’t want to take your food. You go ahead, I’m gonna stay behind.” 

“Zim, you have to eat. Don’t overwork yourself like last year.” 

“I’ll be fine.” 

Tak sighed, “Alright, fine. Be careful and try and eat later, alright?”

Zim nodded and Tak walked ahead. He ran to a janitor's closet and sat against the wall. He pulled out his blueprints and started trying to finish them. After a few minutes, he heard what sounded like the new kid slowly approaching. 

“... Gaz, listen, I’ll be fine walking through the school with no disguise, all these kids are at ‘lunch’, whatever that is,” He continued and Zim’s breathing hitched. He stayed quiet and moved to the darker corner of the room, holding onto the blueprints for Gir. 

“Please don’t be coming in here, please, I don’t want to explain myself,” Zim whispered to himself as he hyperventilated. The door opened slowly and Zim held his breath. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot shorter than the other since I wanted the last to be a cliffhanger so like- also, feel free to leave any advice, this is my first IZ fic-

“What do you  _ mean  _ Tallest Membrane is holding some meeting?” Dib huffed and Zim’s breathing hitched yet again. This… thing… had Dib’s voice, but… not what he looked like. He had pale green skin and completely blue eyes that looked like they belonged to some bug and were covered by black goggles. He had antennae coming from the top of his and no hair. He had the same outfit, but there were black gloves covering his hands, which only had 3 fingers each. Zim felt himself slowly try to back away but he couldn’t move. Dib looked over and saw movement in the corner before weird, spider-like legs slowly came from the backpack on his back and aimed at Zim. 

“DON’T HURT ZIM!” Zim covered his face, accidentally dropped the blueprints, and froze. 

Dib picked up the blueprints and scanned over them, “Woah…” 

“Don’t lay your weird alien eggs in my stomach, please-” 

“What?” Dib tilted his head to the side, thinking, “Irkens can’t lay…” 

“Zim is too young to die, please don’t kill him, Dib-alien!” 

“I’m not gonna kill you! Geez, don’t be such a coward…” Dib whispered the last part to himself as if it were the greatest insult in the world but he was too scared to say it. 

“Zim is no coward, he just needs to finish this thing for his brother and finding out a kid in your class is an alien is scary!” 

“Speaking of this thing, these blueprints seem very advanced, almost as good as the irken blue prints I’ve seen,” Dib thought for a moment. “It looks like you’re struggling a bit with the mechanics and A.I?”

Zim started speaking, but paused. “Maybe.” 

“I think I can fix that problem. I’m a scientist, you see,” Dib explained and sat next to Zim, then pointed to one of the places Zim was struggling with, “You see the tail and back left leg? You have to just add a few little things here… And here… and then the tail and leg is working!” 

Zim watched in awe, “Woah… Zim could use you for help with Gir’s present…” 

“Well… I’d be willing to help, but only for one thing!” 

“What do you need? Zim needs this done by the end of next month.”

Dib pulled Zim by the collar to him. “You can’t tell  _ anyone _ that I’m an alien. Maybe your family, if I deem that they’re okay, but no one.” 

Zim looked at the alien in front of him and sighed. “Alright, fine. Zim will tell no one. But, you have to let Zim tell Tak and Gir, they’d be so excited. And you have to let Zim research you. No dissection, just learning about the Dib’s species.” 

“That can work,” Dib nodded. The bell rang and Zim jumped up. 

“We have to get back to class now! Let’s go,” He started to leave but saw Dib panicking a bit. “What’s wrong?” 

“Sorry, my disguise is buffering, uh, give it a moment!” A light came through the room and Dib looked like his human self, again, although Zim noticed that his hand had three fingers, not five. 

“Dude,” Zim picked up Dib’s hand and showed it to him. 

“What? Don’t humans also have 3 fingers?” 

Zim stared blankly at him before showing his hand to the alien, “We have 5.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah,” Zim proceeded to pull the other to drama quickly. They arrived as soon as the bell rang and Zim sighed in relief, he couldn’t afford to be late again. Dib covered the top of his head, where Zim remembered his antennae were. 

“God, that bell is so loud…” 

“Right? I got used to it quickly, but Gir… He hasn’t gotten to this school yet, and I’m hoping Haus will let me homeschool him by the time he gets to middle school, because the bell will hurt his ears a lot,” Zim shrugged and went to his seat, next to Red and Purple, who glared at him. The classes continued and Zim tried to avoid the alien in his classes any time he saw him. At the end of the day, Tak and Zim met up. 

“Are we walking or taking the bus today?” Tak asked her twin. 

Zim shrugged, “I’m good either way, I just wanna get home as soon as I can, you’re not gonna believe what happened in school today. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! This chapter actually doesn't have Dib in it!
> 
> So i just wanted to say that skoodge uses they/them pronouns!! I wanted to project! Also, Gir may not be written the best- im still heavily researching autism so like!! Im asking my friends and my girlfriend who have it what it's like living with it but im still doing a lot of research for it- feel free to leave any critisism!! Enjoy the chapter :)!

As Zim and Tak got off the bus, Gir ran out, “Zim!” 

“Gir!” Zim caught Gir in a hug and the two smiled big. “How was school?” 

“It was gooood, we got to talk about our favorite foods and stuff, and I talked about tacos and waffles for an hour!” 

“Nice! Zim would love to hear about that,” Zim's smile got bigger as he picked the little boy up. He was still wearing the hoodie Tak and Zim made him. 

“I can tell you,” He flapped his hands excitingly and started to go on about the food items. Zim listened as his brother talked about it and smiled, carrying him in. Once he was in, he put Gir down and the boy immediately ran to the couch. Zim heard Haus in the kitchen, making snacks. 

“Hey, Haus! We’re home!” Tak called out. 

“Oh!” Haus emerged from the kitchen, smiling and wearing an apron, “Hello! How was school?”

Zim shrugged. “There’s an alien in Zim’s class.” 

Tak laughed, “You mean Dib? The new kid? That’s pretty xenophobic of you, Zim!” 

“No, no he’s an actual alien. Like, green skin and cockroach looking,” He looked at Tak, “Zim can show you later. He's like… Zim doesn't know what species it is but it’s an alien one. He said he’s a scientist where he’s from.” 

“Sure. I’ll believe you when you show me proof.” 

Haus spoke up, “Tak, don’t be rude to your brother. He could be joking or playing a game with this friend.” 

“Zim is not joking! The… The Dib-thing is an alien!” Zim wasn’t used to not being taken seriously by his family. Usually, he would say something and they’d maybe laugh, but they’d believe him. Now, he just wasn’t being believed. It made him angry, annoyed, and almost… sad. He ignored the sad feelings though, and focused on the anger. 

“We should send him to a mental hospital or something,” Tak joked. 

Gir gasped, upset, “Don’t send Zim away!” 

Tak looked confused before realizing, and sitting next to Gir on the couch, “Oh, Gir, I was joking, I’m so sorry! We’re not sending Zim away-” 

Zim went to the kitchen, “Haus? You believe Zim, right?” 

Haus looked a bit awkward, “I don’t. I’m sorry, Zim, but aliens don’t even exist.”

“They do! I have so much proof, even the kid in my class!” Zim felt tears pricking at his eyes, although he blamed it on the anger. “Zim is… Going to his room.” He quickly left the room, went upstairs to his room, then locked his door and flopped onto his bed. He groaned loudly and wrapped himself in a blanket, or as he liked to call it when he was twelve, his ‘cocoon of misery’. He had a few tears slip from his eyes as he grabbed his phone and texted a friend. 

‘Hey Skoodge. You busy?’ He then put on some show on the TV in his room and waited for Skoodge to reply. His phone turned on about ten minutes later. 

‘Not right now. Everything okay?’ Zim laughed a bit at the screen. 

‘Nahhh family isn’t listening, had a mental breakdown, you know, the usual. Can I come over’ 

A few minutes passed, ‘Yeah! I’ll tell my mom.’ Zim turned his phone off and grabbed a bag. He filled it up with clothes, a notebook that his therapist advised him to keep for his ‘anger issues’... Psh, Zim had no anger issues, that was a lie. Totally a lie. He continued to pack a few things and then slung the bag over his back. Would Skoodge count as family…? Yeah, yeah they would. They would believe him, at least. He nodded and made his way downstairs. 

“Haus! Zim is going over to Skoodge’s!” 

Haus nodded and looked over at Gir, who was happily watching a show, “Do you mind taking your brother?” 

Zim sighed a bit, but shook his head. He was hoping to have a sleepover by himself, but he decided that Gir being over wouldn’t be too bad. “Yeah sure. Gir, come on!” 

Gir stood up, “But monkeys!” 

“We can watch the monkey show at Skoodge’s house,” Zim sighed. Gir nodded but was upset at the fact he was leaving. They made their way to Skoodge’s house, which was only a few blocks away. As they got there, they noticed some weird house. 

“Zim! Look, there’s a weird lookin’ house right there! I wanna go in.” 

“No, Gir, we don’t know who lives there and Zim is not going to be responsible if you get kidnapped.” 

Gir pouted and crossed his arms. The two of them finished making their way to Skoodge’s house and rang the doorbell. Zim could hear Skoodge’s mom yelling for someone to open the door, and instead of Skoodge opening the door, it was Red. “Oh god no. Skoodge, your friend is here!” 

Zim smiled, “Hi, Red!” 

Red shook his head and left, Skoodge coming over, “Sorry about him, he doesn’t like you…” 

“Nonsense! Everyone likes Zim, Zim is amazing!” 

Skoodge sighed, “Come in, I guess?” Zim came in with Gir, and Miyuki was inside, making dinner for her kids. 

“Oh, hello Zim, hello Gir!” She smiled. 

“Hi, Miss. Anderson!” Zim smiled happily and went to pick up Gir, who moved away and went to the couch. 

“Can I watch the monkey show now?” He asked. Skoodge nodded their head. 

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.” They turned on the TV, which Gir immediately put on the monkey show he loved so much. Zim and Skoodge went up to Skoodge’s room and Zim threw his bag onto the bed. 

“So, who’s that person who moved down the block from you?” Zim asked, curiosity taking over his features. 

They shrugged, “Not sure, haven’t gotten to know them. I think their names are like… Dib, Gaz, and Keef or something. Dib and Gaz are siblings and Keef is their cousin. They also have a cat named Gretchen, I think.” 

Zim blinked, “Dib-stink is your neighbor? Geez… I probably shouldn’t have made fun of you while talking to him, now he might tell you.” 

“I’m used to it, it’s fine. Red and Purple do it all the time,” They turned on the TV and started up their gaming console. “What game should we play?” 

“I vote on Animal Crossing. I want to see their world burn.” 

“Zim, we’re not playing Animal Crossing so you can mess up my progress.” 

“Awww… What about Minecraft? I want to see things burn.” 

“Alright, alright. Hold on,” They got it ready and loaded up a game, then gave Zim a controller. They played for about an hour before Zim spoke up. 

“Hey, Skoodge, you know that new kid, Dib, right?” Skoodge nodded, “And you count as family… Right?” 

“Where are you heading with this, Zim? I guess we do, we’ve known each other since you were adopted.” 

“Exactly. Okay, so that new kid is an alien.” 

Skoodge held back a small laugh, “Sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, my bad. How do you know?” 

“I caught him out of disguise! I was in the janitor's closet during lunch, and the Dib-alien came in and freaked out when he saw me and was all ‘Don’t tell anyone I’m an alien’ and I asked if I could tell my family and he said yes, and you count as family so I’m telling you since no one in my actual family believes me!” 

Skoodge blinked. “What-?” 


	4. Chapter 4

It took a few hours, but Skoodge was convinced. Zim was… Relieved, to say the least. “So he just… Was walking around without a disguise? Why?” They asked. 

Zim shrugged. “Not sure, he was talking to ‘Gaz’ though, saying he wasn’t gonna get caught ‘cuz we were all at lunch.” 

Skoodge blinked, “Wait, did you eat lunch today?” 

“No, Zim forgot, but that’s not the point! Dib-thing is an alien!” 

“Alright, I guess. I’m gonna go get you a snack.” 

“Zim is not hungry,” Zim paused. “... Thank you, though.” 

Skoodge sighed, “Alright. Do you want my mom’s cookies, though-?” Zim waited a few seconds before nodding. He liked Miyuki’s cookies, anyway. The two of them went downstairs and Gir was still watching his scary monkey show. Zim hated that show so much… He sighed and went into the kitchen, where there were chocolate chip cookies on the counter. 

“Miss. Anderson, do these cookies have any milk or anything like that in them-? I’m allergic, so-” Zim asked awkwardly, picking one up. 

Miyuki looked over, “Nope, go ahead, Zim! Skoodge told me you were coming over while I was making them, so I figured I should make it to where you can eat them too!” She smiled and went over to the couch, where Gir and Red were now sitting. 

“Miyuki!! Lookit the monkeys, aren’t they coooool?” Gir pointed at the T.V excitedly. Miyuki giggled a bit and watched the show. 

Red groaned, “This show is annoying, can we change it?” 

Zim sat down with the cookie, setting Gir on his lap and stealing his spot, “We could, but Gir really likes this show. Sorry, Red.” 

Red rolled his eyes and stood up before moving to the kitchen, “I’m calling Purp.” 

“Alright, don’t forget about practice, it’s at six today.”

“Yeah yeah, that’s why I’m calling Purp,” Red groaned from the kitchen, leaving the house, a bag packed full of snacks. Miyuki huffed. 

“I don’t know what to do with him at this point! He’s been late to five practices now.” 

Zim thought for a moment, “Zim could try to join the football team, that could help!” 

Miyuki burst out laughing. “Sorry, sorry Zim, I shouldn’t laugh, but; You’re so… well, small!” 

“Zim’s height does not matter! Zim could join and make sure Red is there on time!” 

“Zim, you’re 4’11”-” 

“That is unimportant!” 

She sighed, “Alright, you could go to tryouts next quarter? This quarter ends in a few days, so it should be soon.” 

“Whoo! Zim won’t let you down, Miss. Anderson!” 

“Please, call me Miyuki.” 

“Alright, Miss. Miyuki!” Zim smiled. 

Miyuki sighed softly, “Close enough.” The night continued, and eventually, Skoodge and Zim were getting ready for bed. 

“Alright, uh, I’ll put on a movie and then we’ll go to bed, alright?” They looked at Zim, smiling. 

“Sounds good,” He nodded. He then grabbed his phone, hearing it chime. Some random number had texted him. 

‘Hey, is this Zim Faren?’ 

Zim sighed, confused, ‘Yes, it is I, Zim. Who’s this?’ He put his phone down, watching for a movie to yell that he wanted to watch, as his phone pinged immediately. 

‘Dib, from school!’

Zim stared at the screen, confused even more, ‘How’d you get my number, Dib-Beast?’

‘Oh, it was easy, I just asked Gretchen to find it, since she has a database of pretty much every human in the world.’

‘Weird. That’s weird’ Zim texted, before sending another message saying ‘You’re weird’

‘I’m not! Anyways, I was just wondering when you wanted to start working on the project! Also, what’s ‘paranormal’?? Keef showed me some show called Mysterious Mysteries and apparently it’s about paranormal stuff, but I don’t know what that is.’ 

‘You type a lot for someone with only 3 fingers’ 

‘Off topic.’ 

‘Right. Paranormal is like,,,, Ghosts and shit. Bigfeet, ghosts, demons, aliens, that kinda stuff. And we can start on the dog any time, it just needs to be done in two (2) months’ 

‘Why’d you put two of the same number??’ 

‘Aesthetic.’ 

‘Oh, right. Uhhhh, we can start the project maybe tomorrow? Tomorrow is Saturday, and there’s no school on Saturdays for humans, right??’ 

‘Sounds good. Also, the Dib-Alien shouldn't speak like he’s an alien. Government can see your phones and message history’ Zim didn’t actually believe that, of course, but if he could get the alien who knows nothing about Earth to, it’d be pretty fun. 

‘Wait… Really???’ 

‘Yeah, google it, there’s a ton of stuff on it’ 

‘Oh- Well then, uh, hi FBI- I am a normal human worm child and not an Irken invader here to take over and explore Earth with other Irkens-’ 

‘Dude don’t text me that you say it out loud so the FBI agent hiding in your phone hears you. I also think your camera is always being looked through, if I saw that correctly’ 

‘What???’ 

‘Yeah. Also, don’t explode the planet or whatever with my family still on it, that wouldn’t be pog’ 

‘... Pog????’ 

‘I disown you as a classmate. You are no longer in my class.’ 

‘Can you even do that????’

‘I am ZIM, I can do whatever I want, DIB-STINK’ 

‘Alright then-’

‘Now stop texting me, I’m watching a movie.’ Zim put his phone down, looking up at the screen, seeing that Skoodge was still picking a movie. 

“Any ideas, Zim?” 

“Zim votes on a murder mystery or action.”

“So, uhhh, we could go to Disney or something and watch a Marvel movie?” 

“Great idea, Skoodge!” He smiled at them, sitting down on the bed and taking the remote, quickly putting on a movie of his choosing, causing Skoodge to sigh a bit. Zim’s phone pinged again, so he picked it up. It was simply Dib saying a quick goodbye, so he just left it on read. Gir came in a few hours later and sat on the bed. 

“Whaaaatcha watchin’ Zim?” He looked over and smiled, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth. 

“Some horror movie. Skoodge already passed out, so Zim now has free reign to their T.V.. It’s fun.” 

“Their? Isn’t Skoodge a boyyy?” The 8 year old looked confused. 

“Nope, Skoodge isn’t anything. They’re just a person, who doesn’t have a gender, so we refer to them with they/them pronouns.” 

“That sounds coooooolll! I wanna use they/them pronouns like Skoodge!” Gir smiled. 

“Sure you can, Gir! But, are you a boy, a girl, or a nothing?” 

“Uhhhhh, I think I’m a boyy!” 

“Then Zim doesn’t think you’d use they/them. You could be like Zim and use he/him AND they/them pronouns, though. I’ll buy you a skirt, Zim has some of those.” 

Gir gasped, “I wanna skirt!” 

“I’ll get you one then,” He ruffled the boy’s hair a bit, turning to the T.V. again. “Do you want me to change this? Since I’m pretty sure you’re sleeping with Zim and Skoodge tonight, Zim doesn’t want you to wake up with nightmares, because then we’d have to go home, and Zim doesn’t wish to talk to Tak.” 

“Ummmmm, could we put on…” Gir thought for a moment, “Movie with someone who looks like us?” 

Zim smiled softly, “Alright, there’s not too many movies with a Japanese cast that you can watch or would understand, so are you okay with a movie about a Chinese girl?” 

“Yessss! Can you teach me Japanese like you and Tak speak sometimes?? Like, how do you say all those weeeeird words?” 

“Um, sure?” Zim looked a bit confused. “We’ll start with introductions.” He continued the lesson as he put on a Disney movie. The two ended up staying up to nearly one in the morning. 

“Okay, okay, I got it,” Gir thought for a moment before speaking a bit of gibberish. 

Zim sighed again and smiled softly, “close enough. Bed time now, it’s late and Zim is tired.”

“Okayyyy,” Gir nodded and sat there before he just laid down and stared at the ceiling. “... Hey Ziiim? What was Mama and Papa like?” 

Zim thought for a moment. “Zim doesn’t really remember. It’s been… Years since I’ve seen them. Zim remembers them being strangely robotic, though. They once tried to scam everyone into thinking Zim had a zoo in our backyard, ‘cuz he told everyone in class that we did.” 

“They sound coooooll!” Gir smiled. “Why’d they leave us thouuugh??”

Zim blinked, “You ask deep questions for an eight year old.” 

“So you dunno why?” 

“... No, Zim is unaware of why they left us.” Zim looked at the ceiling. 

“Aww… Okay…” Gir pouted. “Oh well! I’m tired now, so good niiight, Zim!”   
“Good night, Gir. Sleep well.”

“You too, Zim!!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Familial bonding!! This one took a bit longer to get out, I apologize for that- I hit writers block and stopped hyperfixating for a hot second, but I'm hyperfixating again SO! Back to the fic :) Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave any constructive criticism ^^


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